It is desirable for a variety of different applications to mix bulk material at its storage location to create a desired blend of materials for loading onto an outlet container such as a tanker truck or train car. For example, it is desirable to blend bulk fertilizer ingredients, both liquid and dry, stored at a facility for loading onto tanker trucks for delivery to end users.
It is known to ship self-contained mixing stations enclosed within shipping containers for installation at bulk material storage sites. Once shipped to a particular installation site, the various pumps, valves and meters of the mixing station are connected to the tanks of bulk material. In known systems, the plumbing connections are made through holes formed in the side walls of the shipping container that encloses the mixing equipment. As a result, the structural integrity of the shipping container is compromised rendering it unsuitable for shipping to another location, especially using a sea-going vessel. Consequently, known mixing stations are essentially single-installation systems.
It would be useful to provide a mixing station enclosed within a standard shipping container that can be installed and connected to bulk storage tanks at an installation without requiring connection to or penetration of the side walls of the container. Such a mixing station would be portable and could be shipped to various mixing sites for use.